Catullus Poems-1-60

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Poem 1

Put an introductory note here.

Cui dono lepidum novum libellum

lepidus -a -um: fine, elegant

arida modo pumice expolitum?

jksjdf s djf asjdf a sd

[1] [2]

Media:Test.mp3

meas esse aliquid putare nugas.

commentary

first line \ blah

blah

Poem 2

et acris solet incitare morsus,

Is passer the subject of solet? I've got the sense, but I'm not sure how exactly to put it all together. Can we possibly go over how pronouns work?

Actually puella is the subject, translate 'she is accustomed . . .'

What case are acris and morsus? (I am thinking they must be genitive plural, but can't see how that makes sense...)

both are accusative plural, objects of incitare. acris would be acres in prose; this is a poetic accusative plural form in the third declension. He does this again just below . . . tristis [=tristes]. . . curas. That final i is long.

Poem 5

rumoresque senum severiorum

senum: is this senex genative plural? if so shouldn't it be senium or is this a poetic spelling?

Poem 13

Cenabis bene, mi Fabulle, apud me

You will dine well, my Fabullus, at the house of mine

paucis, si tibi di favent, diebus,

in a few days, if the gods give favor to you-

paucis...diebus: hyperbaton emphasizes the vagueness of the invitation

si tecum attuleris bonam atque magnam

if you will have brought with you a good and big

cenam, non sine candida puella

dinner, not without a beautiful girl

candida- Lit.: fair-skinned, which was an advantageous trait for women to have, implies beauty, wit, and charm (Garrison).

et vino et sale et omnibus cachinnis.

and wine and wit and all your laughter;

sale- means salt and wit (Garrison)

Haec si, inquam, attuleris, venuste noster,

if you will have brought these things, I say, our charming one,

cenabis bene; nam tui Catulli

you will dine well; for your purse of Catullus

plenus sacculus est aranearum.

is full of cobwebs.

Sed contra accipies meros amores,

But in return you will receive pure love,

seu quid suavius elegantiusve est:

or if what is more pleasant or more elegant:

nam unguentum dabo, quod meae puellae

for I will give to you a perfume, which

donarunt Veneres Cupidinesque;

Venuses and Cupidsgave to my girl,

quod tu cum olfacies, deos rogabis

which when you smell, you will ask the gods,

totum ut te faciant, Fabulle, nasum.

that they make you, Fabullus, a whole nose.

Poem 16

quod sunt molliculi, parum pudicum.

Is pudicum just a syncopated pudicorum (gen, masculine, pl)?

no, just accusative singular, agreeing with me in the previous line

Poem 42

Introduction to Catullus 42

Catullus 42 expresses the poet’s anger at a woman who refuses to return his writing tablets to him. In order to get the tablets back, Catullus blends his own habit of writing invective poems with the Roman custom of flagitatio, in which a crowd is paid to publicly harass a person, embarrassing them with scandalous vulgarities and insults until they give in to whatever the demands may be. Historically, the critical approaches to 42 have reflected contemporary social norms, with some critics reading the vulgarity of the abuse as “a wry critique of flagitatio as a judicial institution” (Selden qtd in Wray), while more recent critics find it less difficult to believe that Catullus simply meant what he said. Failing to embarrass her into returning the tablets, Catullus tries a different tactic: flattering her. Deveneyt 18:13, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Translation

Come to me, poems, as many as you are

all of you, from all directions, all of you, as many as you are.

The disgusting slut thinks I’m a joke,

and says that she will not return your tablets to me,

how do you like that?

Let us harass her and shout our demands.

Who is she, you ask? She, whom you see now,

strutting indecently, like a vulgar actress,

laughing annoyingly like an ugly dog showing its teeth.

Surround her, and shout our demands:

“Foul slut, give back the tablets!

Give them back, you foul slut!”

You don’t care? Oh, you mud, you whorehouse,

or if there’s anything that could be more depraved, that’s what you are.

But we must not, however, let it go at this.

So if nothing else is possible,

let us wring a blush from her brazen dog’s face.

Shout out again in a louder voice:

“Foul slut, give back the tablets!

Give them back, you foul slut!”

But we’re getting nowhere, she is not moved at all.

Your method and your mode must be changed,

if you’re going to make any further progress:

“Fine and chaste girl, pretty please, return the tablets!”

Deveneyt 18:13, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Adeste, hendecasyllabi, quot estis

The choice of hendecasyllabics is deliberate, since they are "the proper metre for abuse" (Fordyce) which Catullus also uses against the napkin thief in 12. Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

omnes undique, quotquot estis omnes.

The repetition of omnes in this line "emphasizes the idea of all the hendecasyllables in the world" (Fordyce) and creates the image of a massive crowd in uproar, which Catullus is now unleashing.Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Iocum me putat esse moecha turpis,

The exact identity of the "moecha turpis" is never provided, but the target was probably not Lesbia (Lenchantin qtd in Quinn). Quinn argues that it may have been Ameana of poems 41 and 43 (he describes her in his notes on 41 as " ‘the girlfriend of the bankrupt from Formiae’ that is, Mamurra" ). Fraenkel argues that we should resist this impulse to try to figure out who the woman is: "I try never to ask a question when I see that the poet is determined not to answer it" (49), implying that the strength of the poem lies in the vague nature of its target. Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

et negat mihi vestra reddituram

There is disagreement among critics about whether the vestra should be nostra instead, depending on whether the tablets belong to the poems themselves or to Catullus and the poems. Fraenkel believes it should be vestra, since "it is required by the legal or quasi-legal fiction on which the whole poem is based. The poems are themselves considered the legitimate owners of the codicilli" and therefore have a reason to be indignant(46). Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

pugillaria, si pati potestis.

Pugillaria, pugillarium n. pl. – writing tablets. Fordyce has a thorough description of what these tablets were like: “Pugillaria, called codicilli below and tabellae in 50 were wax-coated wooden tablets, with a rim to prevent rubbing, hinged together in pairs or sets by straps at the side, and used for writing which was not meant to be permanent” He also describes how they were used to send messages back and forth, with the answer to be written on the tablets by the recipient: this might have been the reason why she had them in the first place, even though it is never clearly explained in the poem itself. Fordyce speculates that Catullus might have been using them to send her a note proposing an amorous encounter (he notes that just such a use of pugillaria is found in Ovid). Her failure to reply or to return the tablets would then be a rejection of the poet’s advances.

Commentators vary slightly about the idiom of the second half of this line. Fordyce says that si pati potestis is "a current formula of indignation" something similar to "si dis placet, 'just imagine, if you please'". I prefer the more natural translation by Quinn, of "how do you like that?" Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Persequamur eam et reflagitemus.

Reflagito [1] – demand repeatedly in a loud voice.

Fraenkel describes flagitatio as a way for an offended person to “take the law into their own hands […] He gathers a boisterous crowd either in front of the housedoor of his adversary or in the market square or some other public place. The crowd is instructed to shout against the guilty man demanding that he should do what so far he has been unwilling to do. The shouting, in the most unflattering language, is performed in consise, roughly rhythmical phrases […] If the man happens to be indoors, his attackers will shout against the house-front; otherwise, they must waylay him in the street or the market square, surround him, deafen his ears with their incriminations and, in doing so, attract the curiosity of the neighbours and any passer-by. The fear of defamation—a formidable threat in a relatively small community—is more likely than not to induce the offender to yield to the accuser’s demand” (49). He also notes that, “To prevent his escape, his pursuers have to surround him, circumsistere. That is what the crowd of Catullus’ hendecasyllabic most efficiently achieves” (50). Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Quae sit, quaeritis? Illa, quam videtis

videtis – the sense here is "here she comes!" according to Quinn. Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

turpe incedere, mimice ac moleste

Incedo, incedere, incessi – strut "Gait was regarded as a clue to the character" (Thompson).

Turpe is used adverbially (Fordyce)

Mimice is also adverbial. According to Fordyce, it refers to “a vulgar comedienne [...] The mimus (the same word is used for the entertainment and the actor in it) was a popular farce originally imported from Magna Graecia and largely consisted of extempore impersonation and gesticulation [...] women, who were excluded from ‘regular’ drama, acted in the mime” Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

ridentem catuli ore Gallicani.

Quinn: “ridentem... Gallicani: her pout looks like a dog showing its teeth” Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

redde putida moecha, codicillos!"

Fraenkel: “The word-order of the first line, moecha putida, redde, is reversed in the second line, redde, putida moecha. We may call this a stylistic device of popular eloquence. It serves in a simple yet effective manner to express strong emotion” (48). Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Non assis facis? O lutum, lupanar,

Assis facis: made of a penny’s (negligible) value; that is, she doesn’t care. Quinn : lines 13-14 are "an aside flung at the girl." Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

aut si perditius potes quid esse.

Quinn : "perditius: more corrupt" Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Sed non est tamen hoc satis putandum.

non est tamen hoc : "what we have been doing is not enough after all (tamen)" (Fordyce) While Quinn describes the sense of the line as being " ‘we must not let it go at this’ – i.e. give in” Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

ferreo canis exprimamus ore.

Fordyce : « ferreo : a picturesque alternative for os durum; we use another metal and say ‘brazen’ » “exprimamus: ‘let us wring a blush’” Quinn: “exprimamus: ‘force upon’ – The word implies effort; it is also the word used of sculptors, etc., moulding the features of a portrait” Fraenkel: “quod si non aliud potest, ruborem / ferreo canis exprimamus ore. If we want to recite these lines properly, the soft backsound of the English R will not do; we have to round our tongue and produce unashamedly a series of rolling and sustained Italian R’s. It is this sound above all that here suggests the ugliness of the dog. To the Roman ear the snarling of a dog was disagreeable; at an early stage they called R the ‘littera canina’” (48). Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Sed nil proficimus, nihil mouetur.

Fordyce : « ‘But we are making no progress; she isn’t worrying. You must change our plan and method, if you can make some progress that way’ […] with possum the idiom is entirely logical: the possibility is present, though the realization of it is future" Deveneyt 18:48, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

" pudica et proba, redde codicillos."

Thompson: pudica et proba is ironic. Deveneyt 18:45, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Poem 51

Ille mi par esse deo videtur,

Catullus repeats ille, creating an emphasis on "the man" that does not exist in Sapho.

"In Sappho he is merely a peg on which to hang the theme of envy... for [Catullus] the man is more important; [Catullus] hopes to supplant him, and succeed to his unique happiness" (Quinn)

Par: par, paris. equal, comparable, fitting.

Mi: abbreviated form of dative mihi.

ille, si fas est, superare divos,

fas: indeclinable.

si fas est: literally "if it is proper". A conventional Roman formula of caution (lest the claim be displeasing to the gods), also used to maintain a serious tone with the hyperbole (Fordyce; Quinn).